Absentee voters abound

Wednesday

She simply could have dropped her absentee ballot in the mail, but 61-year-old Inga Smith of Columbus wanted to vote in person and didn't want to wait until Election Day.

She simply could have dropped her absentee ballot in the mail, but 61-year-old Inga Smith of Columbus wanted to vote in person and didn't want to wait until Election Day.

"I said, 'What the heck, I'm going to stand in line and make sure it's counted,' " said Smith, who waited more than an hour yesterday to cast a ballot at the early-voting center at Veterans Memorial.

"I brought a book. It's gone fast."

Smith was among hundreds of Franklin County residents who waited patiently in a line that snaked through the second floor during the lunch hour, with wait times of up to 90 minutes. Workers stayed after the 7 p.m. closing time to accommodate those still in line.

Yesterday was the busiest day at Veterans Memorial since early absentee voting started Sept. 30. According to the county elections board, 2,692 voted in person yesterday, bringing the total so far to 35,578.

That's more than the number of registered voters in Upper Arlington, Grandview and Marble Cliff combined. And elections officials expect the numbers to continue to increase until Monday, the last day of early in-person absentee voting and the day before the election.

This is the first presidential election since state law was changed in 2005 to allow anyone to cast an absentee vote, either in person or by mail, without giving a reason. More than 213,000 county voters have requested an absentee ballot by mail so far.

Many voters said yesterday they were willing to wait in line so they could see their vote dropped in the bin and feel certain it would be part of the Election Day tally in case the presidential race between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama is close.

Others said they wanted to feel the "excitement" of voting in person. And still others said they had to work next Tuesday and feared the lines would be longer on Election Day.

"I just found out I work 7 to 7 on Tuesday," explained Erin Greger, a 24-year-old nurse from Gahanna.

One voter just wanted to stay dry this year.

"I'm here because last time -- I vote at a firehouse -- I waited three hours in the rain to vote. I don't mind waiting but figured if I came down here, at least it's climate-controlled," said Irene Butler, 61, of Columbus.

In the 2004 presidential election, long lines forced some Columbus voters to wait as long as five hours to cast a ballot.

A few voters left after learning yesterday's wait was more than an hour.

It's been longer, according to those back for the second time.

Terry Martin, 44, of Columbus, said he left Monday when the lines were out the door. He works nights and worried about making it to the polls on Election Day.

"I wanted to get it over with," he said.

Yasamine Harden, 40, of Columbus, said that voting is a privilege best experienced in person.

"I wanted to take it all in," she said after casting her ballot. "It's exciting."

Early voting also has been heavy in other urban counties. Nearly a fourth of all registered voters in Cuyahoga County have requested an absentee ballot by mail, for example, and nearly 28,000 had cast absentee ballots in person.

Election officials in the counties surrounding Franklin say they've had steady lines of early voters.

In Licking County, the line snaked down the hall and back again at the county administration building yesterday about 4:30 p.m. Most people said they came to avoid a long wait on Election Day, only to stand there for more than an hour in some cases to cast their vote.

Jim Munyan, 39, of Newark, is an electrician who often works in Columbus. He said it would be difficult for him to make it Tuesday.

"I thought I would just get right in," Munyan said, standing about halfway down the double-sided line. He said he already had been waiting for a half-hour.

Lindsey Williams, 18, of Alexandria, said she did not know what to expect because this is her first election.

"Compared to what I think it might be next week, this isn't bad," Williams said.

At noon in Delaware County's Hayes Administration Building, six voters waited in line to use one of the 10 touch-screen polling machines.

Elections Director Janet Brenneman said the numbers of voters coming in "really began to pick up last week."

"Most people just don't want to wait on Election Day."

In Fairfield County, lines have trailed out the lobby as people waited to vote.

Madison County Elections Director Tim Ward estimates that one of every five voters will cast an early ballot, which is causing an administrative nightmare.

"If this is the way it's going to be permanently, then we are going to need bigger space and a much, much larger staff," he said. "We're just not set up to vote 20 percent of our people in one location prior to the actual election."

A record 1.46 million Ohioans had requested absentee ballots as of Friday, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said this week. That includes 221,368 Ohioans who have requested in-person absentee ballots and 1.2 million who asked for mail-in absentee ballots.

Brunner is predicting an 80 percent turnout, or 6.6 million Ohio voters, and officials hope a third of that total will come from absentee votes to help relieve lines at the polls.

Applications for absentee ballots by mail must be received by county boards of elections by noon Saturday, and absentee ballots may be voted in person until the close of business hours Monday (7 p.m. at Veterans Memorial).